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TOBACCO BUSINESS
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JULY
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AUGUST
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DRILLING DOWN ON DREW ESTATE
Tobacco Business:
For the readers who might not
be familiar with the origins of Drew Estate, can
you tell us how you entered the business?
Jonathan Drew:
My partner and I, Marvin Samel,
started Jonathan Drew Inc. in 1995 as a premium cigar
retailer in the World Trade Center [WTC] in Man-
hattan, pretty much right after the 1993 WTC bomb-
ing. We closed shop so I could move to Nicaragua a
few years prior to the 9/11 disaster—then the world
changed forever. [There’s a] good chance I would have
been there that day.
Jonathan Drew evolved into the firebrand Drew
Estate after I moved to Nicaragua and we transitioned
from the retail space to the manufacturing business.
Moving from New York City to Nicaragua wasn’t easy,
as the country was arising from the Sandinista revolution
and civil war. Nicaragua was a war-torn country—bullet
holes in every single house, brother versus brother kind
of drama. Very rough, painful and often heartbreaking.
I never could have imagined that Drew Estate would
play such a major role in the transformation of our
city, Esteli, Nicaragua—but we did. Step by step, with-
out much of a plan, one tiny company was able to help
change the destiny of almost 100,000 people. It was a
blessing to be part of the Nicaraguan cigar movement
that now rivals Havana, Cuba.
Premium cigars are an industry where the
legacy and heritage of established names are
highly prized, yet your ACID line of cigars was
a breakout success. Why do you think they were
such a sensation?
Heritage brands have an important designation in the
humidor, but they really don’t expand the industry. It
takes a market disruptor or category killer to change the
game. ACID cigars by Drew Estate broke the mold and
ushered in a new era in premium cigars; it’s factual and
historic. We created a cult brand because we were not
cut from the same cloth as our predecessors—we were
an organic movement with our middle finger raised
high. We were straight wildinʼ out, riding free, with a
posse of believers who demanded to be heard.
What inspired you to build your own factory in
Nicaragua, and what barriers did you face as an
American doing so?
As you know, there are thousands of cigar brands on the
market today. The main reason we decided to create our
own factory and roll our own cigars was the authenticity
factor. While we lacked the textbook marketing skillset
at the time, we had [a] vision of building a company
that was distinct, something to change the world. To
accomplish those goals we knew that we had to produce
our own cigars.
Additionally, making your own cigars gives you a
much tighter control of the process: You select and
JD, an avid art collector,
in his condo in Miami.
Jonathan Drew
Continued